Jimmy Haslam: Myles Garrett trade was Andrew Berry's decision

Published July 31, 2026 10:38 PM Nearly two months to the day after the Browns surprised everyone by trading defensive end Myles Garrett to the Rams, Btowns owner Jimmy Haslam addressed the move in a Friday press conference.“That was Andrew’s decision,” Haslam told reporters, referring to G.M. Andrew Berry. “I don’t know what Andrew shared with you yesterday or in the past, that’s something that — the conversations we’ve had for about a while before it was announced, and the Rams were a good partner there and kept it quiet. But, a decision like that, ownership is going to be involved, but it’s Andrew’s decision, Andrew’s recommendation — in this case, ownership left it there.”Haslam was asked why he accepted Berry’s recommendation.“Well, one, I think we got a really good player back, and I think you saw him today — a really good player who’s 25 years old and still on his rookie contract, so that’s the biggest reason,” Haslam said. “And then we picked up a one, a two and a three, and I think we all realize the three years we didn’t have number one picks due to the Deshaun [Watson] trade — one of those years I don’t think we even had a second — and the value of those picks, as we’ve proved the last two years, are tremendous. Myles [Garrett] is an unbelievable player. I was thinking the other night — Jim Brown, Joe Thomas, Myles Garrett — they’re all first-ballot Hall of Famers, world-class people, and so it was not an easy decision, but we’ve made it, we’re moving on and excited about Jared [Verse] and excited about those three draft picks.”It was a surprising change of position by Haslam and the Browns after the 2025 season, one in which Garrett set the single-season sack record and was named the NFL’s defensive player of the year. But, really, what did it do for the Browns? They won five games.Adding draft picks is a plus, given the draft picks that were squandered in the Watson trade. Those picks become cheap, young players who can (if drafted and developed properly) become key, long-term contributors.It was still a stunning shift by the organization. In 2025, Haslam said the team never gave the possibility of trading Garrett a “serious thought,” even though he demanded a trade publicly in early February and wanted to meet with Haslam in early March. (Haslam declined to do so.)A year later, the Browns did much more than give it a serious thought. They arguably could have gotten even more for him in 2025, without having to sign him to a new, market-setting deal that made Garrett decide to stick around.